wandering hillbilly

life of buddy don, chaptur 82:
them changes

leadin up to a day lack i jes deescribed wuz a worl full of changes that had all kinda permanent implicayshuns. fer one, rite as i wuz a bout to move out from the farm, maisie called me up n ast could she talk. turnt out she dint thank she could live in mamas house no more on a counta how mama wuz trine to cuntrol ever thang she dun. she wonted to know could she rent my room out at the farm, witch that wuz fine with me. i give her a speshul rate on a counta she had insisted on payin fer the aborshun same as kevin karnes dun, but i had dun promissed i woodnt tell bout him, so twuz a way of makin thangs a lil closer to even. corse twuz a comfort to rent her the room on a counta then twood be kep up n sides that, whut lil rent i charged her purty much tuck keer of half whut i owed in a munth, witch i had gut my paymints down to $80.

roun the time i wuz gittin together with emily, lack i dun mentchuned, brew wuz gittin together with liza, witch she wood move in jes after the skool year started. she wuz a smart gurl who could speak spanish n all n she had the greenest eyes ye ever saw. she caught brew at a good time on a counta he had jes been with gretchen n main thang she wonted to do wuz git hi. liza dint git hi but dint care if brew dun it. she did lack to reed, n since he had been wurkin as a guard fer so long, he had tuck up a cuple thangs, witch one wuz reedin n tuther wuz playin harmonica lack ye woodnt hardly bleeve. so she gut him reedin good books n that changed him ferever.

gretchen dint seem lack she wonted to give up on brew, but he wuz a one-woman-at-a-time man, jes lack me i reckon. turnt out maisie gut her a job wurkin fer the same dentists offus gretchen wurked fer, witch they wuz bofem dental hygeenists. purty soon they wuz thick as thieves. corse that mint gretchen n liza wuz thrown together a lot n dint neethur one of em lack it but thay wuznt nuthin brew could say.

as i splained befor, brew had im a friend name of oscar clowder, witch he wuz a big guy who dint hardly have to shave. he had blue eyes n pink skin n lacked likker bettern innybidy this side of virgil. he n brew had been friens frum robertsville junyer hi skool on, so twuz only natcheral that maisie n oscar wood git to be friens n then more. she moved in in september n by december he wood be stayin the nite often as not.

twuz a natcheral thang fer maisie n oscar to git together, i reckon, but at lease one person dint approve n that wuz randy fox. he wuz kindly sweet on maisie his ownself. turnt out his wife jenny skinner fox dint lack sex all that much n tho she wuz a good companyun, he wuznt all that happy. turnt out later that she wuznt all that innerested in men n that led to sum talks twixt randy n me, only we cum down on differnt sides of the isshoo. i figgerd it dint matter so longs the woman lacked sex n i figgerd hed have a chants with jenny ifn he wood jes shut up bout her innerest bein perverted. but twuz how he wuz n he dint wonta change.

so he lacked to spend time with maisie, witch she kindly lacked him as a frien, but she woodnt do nuthin with no marrd man n that led to sumthin that sprized me. he ast me could he talk to me alone one time so i left emily in the aparment n tuck a drive with him. he sed he wuz a'gone kill oscar clowder. i figgerd he wuz jellus, but he sed twuz on a counta how he wuz mistreetin maisie. i ast whut did he mean n could he proov it n he sed he dint need to. he could tell. i ast maisie n she sed she figgerd he wuz jes jellus so i let it go.

meanwhile, thangs wuz all differnt down to the lil house with virgil n mj. fer one thang, jill started furst grade that fall, n that meant a hole new worl fer mj to keep up with, witch she wuz the kind that wood be down at that skool volunteerin n gittin to know ever teechur n everthang bout the place. jill wuz a good studint n luved skool, but ye could see how she wuz changin n virgil dint lack it.

but he dint have much time to dwell on it. his hole house had also been kindly tuck over by donovan on a counta ye know how tiz with a new baby. it cums into a place n might jes as well be the new dicktater. it cries n ye do whutever tiz that the new lil dicktater wonts. twuz a trine time fer em. so as ye mite magine, virgil lacked to spend the night on our couch ever so often on a counta he needed a good nights sleep now n then.

corse my life had changed a lot. fer one thang, emily wuz a reader lack nun other i had ever known n that wuz sumthin we both luved. furst thang she dun wuz git me to read the master n margarita by mikhail bulgakov. after thatn cum the last temptayshun of christ by kazantzakis n then the tin drum by guenther grass n then twuz graham green n sylvia plath n hermann hesse n andre gide n marshall mcluhan n hundreds of otherns. twuz a deelight to have sumbidy astin me to read books they luved. to give ye a idee, she give me war n peace fer christmus n i give her a hard bound copy of the wasteland by t. s. eliot. we had dun red em by the new year.

who wuz this woman, emily dickinsen smith, mein liebes maedchen? she wuz one of the hardes to splain i ever met. she wuz small, bout five two maybe, n she had brown eyes n olive skin n long silky brown hair with natcherul blondish streaks in it. she lacked to wear blue jeans, flannel shirts, underwired bras, cotton briefs, knee socks and earth shoes. the most typical pose for her would be sitting with her legs propped in such a way as to hold open a book. in one hand she wood have a burnin marlboro cigarette, a glass of ice tea sittin nearby, tuther hand pullin on her hair, strand by strand. she wooda dun tuck her shoes n pants off, n twuz the home outfit.

sumthin that riled me now n then wuz how she never put nuthin up, ever. when she tuck off her jeans, they wood stay wherever she wuz when she tuck em off, in the floor that is underneath whar she wuz.

then thar wuz the smokin, witch twuz a problem fer me n minnys the time we wood fuss n fite bout it, witch seem lack the mane fites wuz whenever she had deecided to quit n the tole me i wuznt to let her have no cigarette ever agin n twernt one of the possibilities. i wuz sick a lot with bronchitis n the smoke made it wurser. i had always tole myself i could never stay with nobidy that smoked, yet thar i wuz.

i reckon i could cum up with a hundert other items to mentchun that wuz trublesum, but thang is, we wood git to talkin bout whut we luved, speshly books, n dint seem as if thar wuz innythang else in the worl. befor ye could shake a stick, seem lack i couldnt magine bein without her. 

bout then, we gut the news that laura bishop wuz comin fer a visit durin the holdays. i wuz a lil nervus, speshly after hearin whut all randy had to say bout jenny n how she gut to be once she started gittin back into 'the life,' as she called it. i ast him ifn he wood give me a ride out to the farm on a counta i wonted to give laura n emily sum space sos emily could be shore bout whut she wuz a'doin with me. randy tole me i wuz crazy, that i wuz astin to lose her. i tole him i figgerd twuz up to emily n ifn that wuz the life she had to have, dint matter ifn she larnt it now or later. ifn she wonted to be with me, she wood.

but i wuz nervus that night, n nex mornin i met her at smokeys. i ast her how had it gone. she sed they had gone out with a nuther gurl name of polly to the huddle n europa whar gay folk lacked to dance n drank. they dun sum of that n laffed n carrd on n all till after a while, they wuz back home only they had dun dropped polly off. even emily figgerd they wuz a'gone do the deed n i had dun deecided i woodnt make no big deal out of it ifn they did so longs emily wonted to be with me. but that warnt whut happend. they made it into the bed, but when laura tuck to touchin her, emily sed, all she could thank bout wuz me n purty soon laura sed she knew emily wuznt into it so she stopped n thay talked but when the mornin cum, emily sed, all she could thank wuz to git over to smokeys to see me.

them changes.